Breathe Clean at Home

Having plants in your home is a great way to bring nature inside.  Did you know that certain plants clean the air inside to reduce the indoor air pollution?   They will also increase the humidity and reduce airborne microbes.  Take a deep breath now!  If you're anything like me, plants don't really have a good chance of making it in your home let alone clean the air.  I do not have a green thumb.  At all!  But I have been reading about this for some years now and it's about time I get to it.  One simple solutions to help these plants survive is to see what the lighting situation is in your house and start there.    Make sure to follow care for each individual plant and plan accordingly.  If you have pets and small children also check if the plants can be poisonous.   How many plants do you need?  According to NASA (yes NASA), who did testing on popular plants to test their ability to create oxygen and clean toxins from the air in our homes.  Toxins from carpets, paints, furniture, insulation, synthetic fibers, and much more.  They recommend having 15-18 houseplants for 1,800 square foot home.  So do some calculating and see how many you need.  Don't get overwhelmed, one step at a time and build up as you go along. 

 Here are just some of the hard working plants:

1. Peace Lily (spathiphyllum) easy, no direct sunlight
2. Spider Plant (chlorophytum comosum) easy care
3. Devil's Ivy (epipremnum aureum) easy care, medium indirect light
4. Areca Palm (chrysalidocarpus lutescens) easy-med, moderate sunlight
5. English Ivy (hedera helix) medium, partial shade to bright light, not direct light
6. Philodendrons, medium, partial shade
7. Gerbera Daisy (gerbera jamesonii) medium, bright light
8. Chrysanthemum med-hard, bright indirect sun
9. Boston Fern ( nephrolepis) med-hard, bright indirect light
10. Dragon Tree (dracaena marginata) med-hard, bright light, not direct sunlight

for more info on air cleaning plants:

http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/best-air-filtering-house-plants-according-to-nasa.html